Iranian researchers use gold nanoparticles to detect cancer

TEHRAN, Mar. 16 (MNA) – Iranian researchers at Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, UT, have conducted a project on detecting cancer cells by using colorimetric method on laboratory samples.

Seyed Morteza Hosseini, the project manager, said the aim of the research was to design an efficient method for a quick and simple detection of cancer cells released in the patient's blood with the help of colorimetric properties of gold nanoparticles.

“Separated gold nanoparticles, if placed at a distance further than the diameter of the particle, create a red color, but if they are placed nearer, the red color will turn into purple,” he said.

He explained about the results of the performance of nanoparticles in the presence of cancer cells, saying “in the presence of cancer cells, after adding the functionalized gold nanoparticles, the free nanoparticles will remain in the environment and a red color can be seen.”

He went on to add, “in the absence of cancerous cells, however, after adding the functionalized gold nanoparticles, a purple color will appear.”

Hosseini compared the advantages of this method to conventional diagnostic methods, saying “using the property of gold nanoparticles obliterates the need for expensive machines and skilled experts. It also saves time during diagnosis and imposes far less costs on the patient.”

According to Hosseini, this method makes possible early detection of cancer cells among normal cells on the samples under study.

The results of the research have been published in Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 904, 2016, pp. 92-97.